

13 






*~y 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 787 576 7 



Hollinger 

pH 8.5 

Mill Run F03-2193 




OBSEQUIES 



JOHN S. BARBOUR, 



Late a Senator from the State of Virginia. 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Monday, May 16, 1892. 



WASHINGTON, 
1892. 



.1 II N B. B A B BO D R, 

U THE STATE OS 



>i.\ \ Ti :. 

MONDAY, Ifajf : 
SIDENTn 

Amid • 

; 
re and im- 

rHim 
■ 

• o stand ;i ace to 

vr&lk : Hi^ tn:' 

baring 

• . 
mfort, tin wo •' 
nearh 

Ithful life and for ti. 
We pr»j 
i 

and toward ouch Other, duing trhatKWTW our hands find 

475 



to do with all our might faithfully and well, not knowing- the 
day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. so that when- 
ever Thou shalt come we may be prepared to give account to 
Thee, the judge of quick and dead. 

Hallow to us the day of God with all the blessed privileges 
that center in the holy Sabbath. Sanctify all the order ings of 
Thy providence unto us Thy servants this day. Have us in Thy 
holy keeping, O Thou, in whom we live and move and have 
our being. If it please Thee, spare and prolong life, and teach us 
80 to use life's blessed opportunity that when we shall come to the 
end we may enter into rest. Blot out our transgressions, and 
grant us grace and peace, in the name of Christ our Saviour. 
Amen. 

The Journal of the proceedings of Friday last was read and ap- 
proved. 

Mr. KENNA. Mr. President, in the absence, on account of 
sickness, of the Senator from Virginia [Mr. Daniel], it becomes 
my painful duty to announce to the Senate the death of Hon. 
John S. Barbour, late a member of this body from that State. 

Apparently in the full and healthful possession of every nor- 
mal faculty, Mr. Barbour was among us on Friday in the active 
and zealous discharge of public duty. Even beyond the allotted 
time of threescore years and ten he crossed this threshold on Fri- 
day afternoon, seemingly in vigorous health, his last day's labor 
unconsciously performed. At 10 o'clock in the closing hours of 
that day he retired to his bedroom the embodiment and type 
and perfection, as far as human eye could see, of physical man- 
hood. On Saturday morning, at the age of seventy-one years and 
five months, at the hour of five and a half o'clock, with only a 
word of admonition to those who affectionately surrounded him 
at his house in this city, John S. Barbour passed away. 

Mr. President, in this second sudden visitation of Providence 
in the present session of the Senate we recognize a power in 
whose inscrutable wisdom we were born to live, and in the pres- 
ence of whose unchallengeable majesty we are born todie. The 
death of Mr. Barbour is a great grief to his household, a calam- 

475 



ity to his friends. It has come as a personal affliction to his late 
associates in the public service here. His State will exhibit in 
the bereavement of ner people a realization of the full measure 
of her loss, and his country, by the observances in which the 
nations, by their accredited representatives, are soon, by your 
invitation, to take part, will acknowledge her sense and appreci- 
ation of this melancholy event. 

And yet, Mr. President, speaking for myself and making frank 
expression of the inspiration of which this solemn occasion pos- 
sesses me, I have felt, as the associate and neighbor and friend 
of Mr. Barbour, that memories of his private virtues and public 
career, elevated and clean and noble as they were, give back, at 
least in some degree, a compensation from the grave. They 
soften by the sweet influences which radiate from the conscious- 
ness of a life well spent the asperities of grief whi<£i nature is 
prone to indulge on occasions like this. This death is to my 
mind the gathering of ripened fruit, the garnering of the sheaf 
in the well rounded fullness of its golden maturity. 

John S. Barbour was in all the relations of this world an ele- 
vated character and an upright man. His sterling qualities of 
mind and heart bore practical fruit. His genius for affairs made 
monuments in the business and public walks of men, as, in a 
narrower sphere, his humanity made gratitudes which will follow 
like angels, guarding him to the tomb. 

When the Senate, as is its custom, shall have set apart a day 
to be devoted to the recounting of his manly virtues and the 
exhibition of the elements of his lofty character, it will be seen 
of all that his traits were above those of most of his fellow-men* 
that he was useful and valuable to his country and his countoy- 
men: that he practiced justice and fair dealing; that he was im- 
bued with a love of right; that he gave example worthy of emu- 
lation by youth as well as by age, and that he moved and had 
his being, without ostentation or form, in the reverence and 
veneration of his God. 

Mr. President, I offer the resolutions which I send to the 
desk. 



6 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The resolutions will be read. 
The Chief Clerk read the resolutions, as follows: 

Resolved, That the announcement of the sudden death of Hon. John S. Bar- 
bour is received with profound sorrow by his associates in the Senate. 

Resolved, That a committee of nine Senators be appointed by the Vice-Pres- 
ident to take order, with a committee of the House of Representatives, for 
the funeral of the late Senator Barbour: and as a mark of respect for his 
memory that his remains be removed from the Capitol to his late residence 
in Washington, and thence to Poplar Hill, Md., for interment in charge of the 
Sergeant-at-Arms, and attended by said committee, who shall have power 
to carry this resolution into effect. 

Resolved, That the Senate will at 1 o'clock to-day attend in its Chamber the 
exercises incideat to his funeral. 

Resolved. That the Secretary of the Senate communicate these proceedings 
to the House of Representatives and invite the House of Representatives to 
attend the funeral in t£e Senate Chamber at the hour named. 

The resolutions were agreed to unanimously. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. Under the second resolution, as the 
committee on the part of the Senate to take order with the com- 
mittee from the House of Representatives to accompany the re- 
mains of their late colleague to his final resting place, the Chair 
appoints the Senator from Virginia [Mr. Daniel], the Senator 
from West Virginia [Mr. Kenna], the Senator from Maryland 
[Mr. Gorman], the Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Walthall], 
the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Carlisle], the Senator from 
Nevada [Mr. Stewart], the Senator from Michigan [Mr. Mc- 
Millan], the Senator from Illinois [Mr. Cullom], and the Sen- 
ator from Minnesota [Mr. Washburn]. 

recess. 

Mr. KENNA. Mr. President, I ask the adoption of the reso- 
lution which I send to the desk. 

The resolution was read, as follows: 

Resolved, That the Senate do now take a recess until 12:50 o'clock. 

The resolution was agreed to; and (at 12 o'clock and 15 minutes 
p. m.) the Senate took a recess until 12 o'clock and 50 minutes 
p. m., at which hour it reassembled. 

MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE. 

A message from the House of Representatives by Mr. T. CX 

TOWLES, its Chief Clerk, announced that the House had passed 

the following resolutions: 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives accept the invitation oi the 
475 



Senate to attend the funeral services of the late Hon. John S. Barbour, a 
Senator of the United States from the State of Virginia, to be held in the 
Senate Chamber this day at 1 o"clock p. m. 

Resolved further, That the Clerk of the House be directed to inform the 
Senate that the Speaker of the House has appointed the following commit- 
tee, to act in conjunction with the committee of the Senate, to make neces- 
sary arrangements and accompany the remains to the place of burial, viz : 
Mr. Meredith, Mr. Holman, Mr. "Wilson of West Virginia, Mr. Henderson 
of North Carolina, Mr. Hemphill, Mr. Mutchler, Mr. Blount, Mr. Comp- 
ton, Mr. O'Ferrall, Mr. Harmer, Mr. Payne, and Mr. Grout. 

FUNERAL OF SENATOR BARBOUR. 

At five minutes before 1 o'clock the members of the House of 
Representatives, preceded by the Sergeant-at-Arms and Clerk, 
and headed by the Speaker, entered the Senate Chamber. The 
Speaker was escorted to a seat at the right of the Vice-Presi- 
dent, the Clerk at the Secretary's desk, and the Sergeant-at- 
Arms on the right of the Vice-President's desk, and the mem- 
bers of the House were escorted to the seats on the floor provided 
for them. 

They were scon followed by the Major-General Commanding 
the Army, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, the 
Chief Justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court of the 
United States, the members of the Cabinet, and the Diplomatic 
Corps, who were respectively escorted to the seats assigned them 
on the floor of the Senate Chamber. 

At 1 o'clock and 10 minutes p. m. the casket containing the 
remains of the deceased Senator was brought into the Senate 
Chamber, having been preceded by the family and friends of the 
deceased, and escorted by the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate 
and the committee of arrangements of the two Houses and pall- 
bearers selected from the Capitol police, and followed by acolytes 
and R. Rev. John J. Keane, rector of the Catholic University 
of America, Rev. C. Gillespie, S. J., Rev. M. C. Dolan, S. J., 
Rev. A. M. Mandalari, S. J., Rev. James Smith, S. J., Rev. Jacob 
Walter, Rev. James F. Mackin, Rev. John T. Delaney, Monsig- 
nor I. Schroeder and Prof. Joseph Pohle, of the Catholic Uni- 
versity, and Rev. Aloysius Brosnan. S. J., master of ceremonies. 

The prayers for the burial of the dead, prescribed in the ritual 
of the Catholic Church, were read by Rev. C. Gillespie, S. J., 



rector of St. Aloysius Church, first in Latin and then in English, 
the responses being made by the attending clergymen. After 
the incensing and blessing of the body, R Rev. John J. Keane 
delivered the following sermon: 

Judge not before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to 
light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of 
the hearts, and then shall every man have his praise from God.— 1 Cor., iv, 5. 

In the presence of the judgment of God, how must all human 
judgment bow in adoring silence! It is the lesson which the apos- 
tle of the Gentiles thus solemnly impressed on the Corinthians. 
It is the lesson which in this hour of mourning and of wist- 
ful gazing beyond the tomb he lovingly whispers to us. It is 
the lesson by which he ever shaped his own life. In no spirit 
of contempt for his fellow-men, but in the profound conviction 
that man's judgment is of but small account when compared with 
the judgments of the Almighty, he exclaimed: "To me it is a 
very small matter how I am judged by you, or by human judg- 
ment: neither do I judge my own self. For I am not conscious 
of any wrong in myself; yet am I not hereby justified; but He 
that judge th me is the Lord." 

Could those white lips speak to us now, would they not, with 
the awful eloquence of eternity, re'icho the words of the Apostle? 
"Judge me," he would say, "ye friends and partners and wit- 
nesses of my life, judge me, for it is your right; my life was not 
my own but yours, and you have a right to pass sentence on it. 
Judge me, all ye whose interests were for so many years in- 
trusted to my keeping; honestly I strove to do my full duty to 
you, but I own my responsibility and your judgment is welcome. 
Judge me! O, my country, to whom the best energies of my life 
were consecrated; thou knowest that I loved thee devotedly; 
that I strove to serve thee unselfishly: that beyond all the in- 
terests of family or friends or party thy welfare was the chief 
object of my desires: to thee my life belonged and thou hast 
a right to judge it. But. O, my country and my friends, highly 
though I value your judgment, sorely though I would be grieved 
if ye found me worthy of your disapproval, sweet as will be to 



9 

me the sentence of your approbation, the hope of which was 
ever a spur to my endeavors, yet what will all this avail me in 
the eternity into which I now have entered, unless the judg- 
ment of Him who searcheth the reins and the hearts be also a 
judgment of mercy and approval? O, pray for me, my friends, 
for the hand of the Lord hath touched me." 

' ' Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His 
counsellor? " Not even the Church of Christ pretends to lift the 
veil and declare the sentence of the Most High. For every child 
of God over whom her funeral rites are celebrated she has ever 
the self-same form of humble and repentant supplication for 
mercy. Even over those who have been highest in the ranks of 
her ministry she utters the same cry for mercy, and whatever 
there is of added liturgy is only addition of supplication because 
of their weightier responsibility. Knowing full well how truly 
the apostle says: " If we say that we have no sin we deceive our- 
selves and the truth is not in us; " in the awful hour of death she 
discerneth not between layman and cleric, between the poor stray 
sheep that has got into the fold, as it were, at the last moment, 
and the faithful one that has stayed in it always; but over them 
all and in the name of all equality, she cries out to the Eternal 
Judge: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great 
mercy, and according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot 
out my iniquity. For I know my iniquity and my sin is always 
before me." 

She offers up that prayer for mercy not only for them, but in 
their name. She prays for all men, without limit or exception, 
with a charity as catholic as her name, as limitless as the charity 
of Christ. But she can pray in the name only of those who have 
associated themselves with her, who have become her members 
either in accomplished fact or in clearly declared intention and 
desire. She prays this day not only for Senator Barbour, but in 
his name, because for years past he had identified his religious 
life entirely with her. She regards him as having been a cate- 
chumen, a candidate for baptism and for full membership in her 
communion, for such his words and acts plainly declared him to 

475 



10 

be. And from the earliest days of the Church's history we see 
with what special tenderness she regarded her catechumens. 
History has preserved to us the discourse pronounced by the 
great St. Ambrose over the Emperor Valentinian, who was cut 
off by an untimely death ere yet he had joined the membership of 
the Church by receiving baptism. 
Grieve not— 
Says the saint — 

because he died without the sacrament of baptism. Tell me, is there any- 
thing on our part but the will, the desire? That grace he desired he asked 
lor; who then will say that having asked he did not receive? Assuredly be- 
cause he asked the grace he received it. Pour forth then, O Eternal Father- 
He continues — 

pour forth on this Thy servant the abundance of the mercy and the grace 
which he so desired. As Thou has crowned Thy unbaptised martyrs with 
the baptism of their blood, so crown this Thy servant with the baptism of 
his desire. And ye, O brethren- 
He exclaims to the people — 

unite your supplications with mine; offer for his soul the holy mysteries; 
with pious affection let us pray for his repose; by the offering of the heav- 
enly sacraments let us follow his soul with spiritual help. I scatter not 
flowers on his tomb, but I pour upon his soul the sweet perfume of Christ. 
With this will I sanctify his remains; through this will I invoke on him all 
heavenly grace. 

In very many words like these, all glowing with faith and 
charity, all laden with the sweetness of Christian hope, did this 
great father of the Church utter the feelings of his soul towards 
his beloved catechumen. And well we know that this was no 
prompting of human respect, no sacrifice of Christian principle 
to the dignity of the dead emperor. For it was that same Ambrose 
who met the Emperor Theodosius at the church door and drove 
him from the consecrated threshold and from the communion of 
the faithful, because the blood of the people of Thessalonica was 
on his hands. No, it was a duty which the great bishop knew 
that he owed to the catechumen whom death had so suddenly 
snatched away. And were he here to-day he would speak and 
act in like manner towards this our friend, who years ago declared 
his intention of becoming a member of the old Church of Jesus 
Christ, who, when the duties of public life, which he then thought 

475 



11 

he had laid aside forever, again seized on him and absorbed him, 
though he temporarily delayed the final step, never retracted his 
expressed determination to take it, who all these years has spoken 
and acted as if he were already in full membership, and who, had 
time been given him at the last, would assuredly, as his family 
well knew, have askedfor the grace and consolation of her sacred 
rites. 

What Ambrose did fifteen hundred years ago we, his succes- 
sors in the holy ministry, do to-day. And his eminence Cardi- 
nal Gibbons finding it impossible to fulfill this sad duty himself, 
glad am I that to me should fall the honor of filling his place; 
for during the eleven years that Richmond was my home and 
Virginia the field of my episcopal labors I shared in the pride 
that every Virginian felt at having for the representative of the 
proud old State in the national Congress so honorable, so high- 
toned, so spotless a man as John S. Barbour. When, about 
six years ago, shortly after the untimely death of his saintly and 
beloved wife, he gave me to understand that soon we would ba 
fellow Catholics, I rejoiced that the luster which his civic vir- 
tues l'eflected on his State and the honor which his public career 
did to his whole country was likewise to be shared in by the old 
church of all the ages, the mother of saints and heroes and 
sturdy upright men and women in every age and clime and con- 
dition of human life. Their lives are a testimony to her which 
she values highly because of its utility to their fellow-men. 

In this age of intense activity, when absorption in temporal 
pursuits so often makes men unmindful of their eternal interests; 
when the hard-wrought children of men are so prone to think 
that fidelity to the business of this life renders it impossible to 
be busy about the life to come; when Ctesar's claims are so im- 
perious and so all-pervasive that the representative of the spir- 
itual order is apt to be considered, as her Divine Founder was, 
an intruder, a usurper, a disturber of the public peace — in such 
an age that man is a benefactor to his race who by the example 
of his life gives practical proof that it is possible and easy to be 
at the same time an energetic business man and yet a man of 



12 

prayer, to be an active politician and yet a conscientiously re- 
ligious man, to be a clear-sighted American statesman and yet a 
firm believer in the old Catholic Church of Jesus Christ. 

Soon this Senate Chamber will resound with eloquent tributes 
to the admirable character and the eminent public services of 
this good and noble man. Would that the sound of those eulo- 
gies might reach so far and sink so deep into the heart of the 
nation that all his fellow-citizens might thereby be spurred to 
emulate his civic virtues. Would that the moral of his life 
might inspire good men everywhere with a better appreciation 
of their duty to their country, with a firm resolve that no pri- 
vate considerations should hinder them from taking their full 
part in safeguarding the public interests, instead of leaving them 
to the mercy of selfishness and greed. Would that, before this 
example of clean-handed public service, venality and corruption 
might cower in shame and disappear from the sanctuary of our 
country's liberties forever. Would that, at the sight of this 
union of American statesmanship with Catholic faith, the out- 
cry of religious animosity, so out of place in this land of civil 
and religious liberty, might forever be hushed. And, oh, would 
that, above all, the silent eloquence of this impressive spectacle 
might indelibly imprint on the mind of our country and on the 
minds of all her public men that lesson so solemnly taught us by 
Washington in his Farewell Address, that the absolutely indis- 
pensable foundation and props of natioual prosperity must be 
morality and religion. 

Grant, O Heavenly Father, that such may be the beneficent 
fruit of the life and the death of this good man. From his ex- 
ample may there go forth an influence to purify and to elevate 
the life of his people. May his country, which so lovingly hon- 
ors his memory and so sincerely deplores his loss, reap profit 
from the practical lesson which his death bequeaths to all her 
citizens. May his testimony to the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ 
strengthen that faith in the souls of us all and make it invulner- 
able against the attacks of unbelief. And as Thy holy Pontiff, 
St. Ambrose, prayed for the soul of his beloved catechumen, so do 



13 

we implore thee, O Father of Mercies and God of all consolation, 
to deal in sweetest mercy and love with the soul of this Thy serv- 
ant. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual 
light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The committee of arrangements 
will escort the remains of the deceased Senator from the Cham- 
ber, and after the guests of the Senate have retired the Senate 
will accompany the body to the residence of the late Senator 
Barbour, returning to the Chamber for further duty. 

The casket was borne from the Chamber, and the Senate, as a 
body, the invited guests, and the clergymen attended the re- 
mains. 

At 2 o'clock and 10 minutes p. m. the Senate returned to its 
Chamber, and the Vice-President resumed the chair. 

Mr. MANDERSON. I move that the Senate do now adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to; and (at 2 o'clock and 11 minutes p. 
m.) the Senate adjourned until to-morx'ow, Tuesday, May 17, 
1892, at 12 o'clock meridian. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 787 576 7 



